RIO OLYMPICS 2016: A New World, A New Game

The first ever Olympic Games in South America took place this 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,from August 5 to 21. Thousands of athletes from the 205 qualified countries around the world competed in 42 different sport disciplines which consists of aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, football, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and the two new sports, golf and rugby sevens.

This year's Olympic Games held a total of 306 events that happened in 37 different locations. With the theme "World Peace and Environment" and motto "A new world", the Rio Olympics aimed to advocate awareness about the issues concerning world peace and climate change. It promoted a better world with "unity through diversity," in its events uniting multiple countries. Issues like terrorist bombings, mass killings, discrimination, climate change, global warming inspired this year’s Olympics to aim for change, for the change of our perceptions and actions.

OPENING CEREMONY

The opening ceremony on August 5, in the Maracanã Stadium, started with creative performances showcasing the culture, history, and rainforests of Brazil followed by a brief lecture on environmental issues. Vanderlei de Lima, a former long-distance and marathon runner for his country, ignited the Olympic cauldron in the Maracanã Stadium which signified the start of the Olympic Games. The ceremony included a scene where an ecological symbol was displayed on the floor; proclaiming an ambition for not only peace within our society, but also for our planet as a whole. The after-party segment turned away its focus from Brazil and towards the planet. Screens reproduced NASA models, showing alarming projections of concentration of pollution. Before the parade of athletes started, each athlete was given seedlings, and a container which will be given to Brazil, acting as a legacy of Rio. To conclude the opening ceremony, doves flew high, as 200 children from varying states wrote messages on their kites.

STARS AND HIGHLIGHTS

Hidilyn Diaz, a native of Zamboanga City, is the first Filipina athlete to win an Olympic medal since Onyok Velasko's triumph at Atlanta on 1996. She and her coach were aiming only for a bronze medal but she won a silver medal in the Women's 53 kg Weightlifting. Diaz's success made the Filipino pride flare once again.

Michael Phelps, a swimmer from U.S.A., won the most medals, becoming the most “decorated” athlete among them, now with a record of 23 Olympic Golds and 28 Olympic Medals overall. He said "I've been able to put everything I ever put on my mind to in this sport. Just being able to finish this way is special, because now I'm able to start the next chapter of my life." He won five gold medals and a silver in the Men's 100m butterfly swimming, since he was defeated by Joseph Schooling from Singapore, who set a new Olympic record of 50.39 seconds. Like many of his contemporaries who grew up idolizing Phelps, he kept an old photo of himself with the athlete after a meeting in Singapore after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Schooling was then an inspiration to many aspiring young athletes and proved nothing is impossible and influenced us to continue on dreaming.

This year, Usain Bolt, the "triple-trouble", added 3 more gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay to his collection of 6 gold medals, which he received after the same events in the Olympics of London 2012 and Beijing 2008. Many athletes like America's female swimmers Katie Ledecky, gymnast Simone Biles, Japan's gymnast Kaori Icho, Germany's rider Isabell Werth, and the football superstar Neymar participated and won several gold medals as well.

Overall, The United States won 46 gold medals, 37 silver medals, and 38 bronze medals, giving a total of 121 medals making them the overall winner for the fifth time. Great Britain ranked in 2nd place, and China ranked 3rd, while the Philippines ranked in 69th place with a silver medal, together with Burundi, Grenada, Niger, and Qatar.

CLOSING CEREMONY

On August 21, the closing ceremony featured the new Olympic Channel which delivered inspiring stories and news about Olympic sports and athletes, after which a surprising performance to introduce Tokyo Olympics 2020 was made. Through the assistance of CGI, the prime minister of Japan made a grand entrance as Super Mario. The innovative performance reflects the slogan for the Tokyo Olympics that will take place on 2020. The slogan was "Discover Tomorrow," and it hinted to us what the future Olympics may bring to the table. A global audience will have an opportunity to watch 33 sports, including new and exciting additions: baseball, karate, sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing. The well-balanced combo of sports puts emphasis on the youth and gives an urban “feel” to the games. Now the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are promising the most innovative Olympic Games in history, under three core pillars: excellence, diversity and legacy.

LEGACY

The Rio Olympics of 2016 may be one of the most colorful and unique of them all, so far. Half of the world's population watched some coverage of the Olympic Games, based on the official number infographic of Rio. The competitions were held at the most elegant of places of Brazil, like the Copacabana Beach, and the famous Christ the Redeemer. Rio received an estimated 500,000 visitors during the games. Rio showcased their new Bus Rapid Transit Lines, the Olympic Boulevard, the waterfront district, English language trainings, educational facilities, the healthcare development in their public hospitals, renovations of old sport facilities, and new museums including the Olympic museum and Museum of Tomorrow, which aims to promote environmental awareness and world peace.

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part of them. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well." says Baron de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee.

The Olympics is not held for medals but for inspiration and action for a better future ahead of us, uniting the countries with its own lessons and legacies. We are called to continue its legacy and advocacy by being a good sport not only in the games but in our society, our nation and in our environment. It is now our responsibility to build a new world, a new game.

As IOC President Thomas Bach says, “This is what the Olympic movement is all about: to change the world for the better.”

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